Appreciations

My grandmother May Paternott (known to all of us grandchildren as ‘Granna’) left this world on the first Saturday of this year. If I had known earlier that day that I would never see her alive again, I certainly would have frozen those moments and not let time advance any further.

She remains alive now in my memories, above all, in memories of the happy days of my youth when Granna opened her heart and her home to her extended family. She was a friend and mother whose generosity and kindness knew no bounds and made us grandkids gravitate towards the warmth of her home as often as we could.

The Granna many of us overlooked, however, was the elegant, dignified lady who was the power behind my Grandfather’s business ventures. In fact, our Granna managed the first Japanese restaurant in Colombo, years before such establishments came to be popular. As the years rolled on, Granna stubbornly maintained her independence and remained the livewire in a house full of children, grandchildren and a small troop of dogs. Despite being in her eighties, she never missed a single family function and enjoyed the Christmas season most of all because she was surrounded by loved ones - just like she is, right now, in Heaven. She will remain alive in our hearts forever.